Both U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,888 and U.S. Application Publication Number 2007/0163409 disclose a slidable miter saw. However, the saws disclosed in these two prior art designs exhibit certain drawbacks, such as bulk size and high operating vibration, which affect the cutting precision. Specifically, according to the aforesaid two prior art saws, the cutting unit must be kept within a limited cutting stroke, and the length of the sliding stroke of the slide bars of the sliding mechanism must be fixed. Further, the supporting arm that extends from the front side of the sliding mechanism must be properly defined.
If the length of the supporting arm that extends from the front side of the sliding mechanism is excessively long, the size of the worktable must be relatively increased to fit the stroke of the cutting unit and to give sufficient support to the workpiece. However, increasing the size of the worktable relatively increases the storage and delivery cost of the miter saw. According to the aforesaid prior art saws, the length of the arm of force of the cutting unit is determined subject to the extending distance of the sliding mechanism. In order to increase the arm of force of the cutting unit, the extending distance of the sliding mechanism cannot be reduced, thus resulting in a high level of operating vibration that correspondingly affects the precision of the cutting operation.